Cal basketball outruns Roadrunners

In making its basketball season opener a successful one, Cal outran the Roadrunners Sunday night at Haas Pavilion.

With Allen Crabbe scoring 27 points and Justin Cobbs 22, the Bears posted a 78-65 victory over the Roadrunners of Cal State Bakersfield.

Beep-beep this, the Bears said.

The Crabbe-Cobbs combination figures to be a potent one for Cal this season with Cobbs able to play either guard spot and Crabbe a more forceful player at his small forward position.

A fast break layup by Cobbs made the score 53-33 with 15:03 remaining and minutes later forward David Kravish scored on a visually appealing one-handed lay-in off an alley-oop pass on the break from Crabbe.

Yes, the Bears had a little fun in their 2012-13 debut.

Crabbe poured in 20 points in the first half as the Bears forged a 45-28 lead at the break. But on one of his rare missed shots in the half Crabbe became entangled in a mass of bodies in the lane and hurt his left ankle with 1:27 remaining. He walked slowly off the court for treatment and was back in the starting lineup in the second half.

To that point he was 4-for-4 from three-point range and also showed a commitment to become more assertive by driving the lane.

Cobbs was at his best in the half as well with 14 points. His highlight was a driving layup in which he switched hands mid-air before laying the ball in at 10:01 for a 30-9 Cal lead.

Minutes later the Bears equaled their biggest lead of the half at 23 when Crabbe sank a short baseline jumper for 38-15.

Montgomery played five reserves in the first half as he went deep on the bench to see what these players could do and if they figure in his plans once Pac-12 play begins in early January.

Freshman guard Tyrone Wallace, playing against his hometown school, was on the court for nine minutes in the half and contributed two assists and a rebound but missed his only field goal attempt.

Briefly: The Bears play Pepperdine on Tuesday at Haas and do not return home until Dec. 9 vs. UNLV. … Former Cal player Jon Wheeler (1986-87) served as the radio analyst for Sunday night’s game on NewTalk 910 AM. … Cal State Bakersfield only had one more player from Bakersfield than did Cal with Wallace.

John Crumpacker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jcrumpacker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @crumpackeroncal